Many shops start keeping records in a notebook or in Excel. That’s fine. But as products and customers grow, manual records take time and lead to mistakes. That’s when it’s time to move to POS software.
Don’t worry about the switch — with the right plan it’s a day or two of work.
When is it time?
If these sound familiar, the time has come:
- reconciling the till at the end of the day takes more than an hour;
- you find out an item has run out when a customer asks for it;
- you have disputes with customers about what they owe;
- when you’re away from the shop, you don’t know what’s happening.
Step 1. Prepare your product list
In Excel, give every product a row: name, barcode, category, purchase price, selling price and stock. If everything is in a notebook, copy the list into Excel once. It’s the biggest job, but you only do it once.
Step 2. Import your products
Good software imports the whole Excel file at once. Afterwards, spot-check a few products: are the prices and quantities right?
Step 3. Count your stock
Before you start selling with the software, do a stock count. That way the software matches reality from day one.
Step 4. Move customers and debts
Copy over the debts from your notebook: customer name, phone number and current balance. Enter them as opening balances.
Step 5. Train your staff
Give each cashier their own user. A simple rule for the first days: every sale goes through the software. It takes minutes to learn — what matters is the habit.
Step 6. Run in parallel for a few days
For the first 2–3 days, compare the software’s report with the cash in the till. If everything matches, you can close the notebook.
Common mistakes
- Naming the same product in different ways (“Cola 1L” and “Coca-Cola 1 litre”).
- Starting without counting stock.
- One shared user for all staff.
Summary
Moving off a notebook looks like a big job, but it’s a series of simple steps. The keys are a clean product list and one stock count at the start.
With OnHasap you can import products from Excel in one go, and we help with installation and moving your data. Contact us or see pricing.